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What's New
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Lebanon (PA) Family Literacy Festival- April
24, 2010
The Education Department of the Lebanon Campus
of Harrisburg Community College, with the Lebanon Community
Library System and other community organizations, ran the first Family Literacy Festival, organized by Barbara Takarz.
The day featured presentatons by authors, illustrators, literacy
coaches, and storytellers, along with booksignings, face
painting, craft sessions, puppet shows, music, and writing
contest awards.
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| It's great fun to meet fans and sign books for
them. |
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Author Kerry Royer and I were visited in the
autographing area in the Lebanon Community Library by two
larger-than-life book characters. |
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Kennesaw State University Annual Conference on
Literature for Children and Young Adults
March 30, 31, 2010
Kennesaw, GA |
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I gave one of the Keynote presentations at the
conference. |
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Jacqueline Woodson and I share and swap our books while Dr. Alice Snyder, Conference Coordinator,
looks on. |
| Conference attendees waiting to have their books
autographed after my presentation. |
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Besides speaking at the Conference, I also did
an author visit presentation at Big Shanty Elementary School, Cobbs County, GA. Here, a student catches the "chicken pox". |
| A group hug. Nothing like enthusiastic readers. |
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Attending the author visit presentation was Barb
Schager, Media Specialist, who cordinated the school event, and
Dr. Debra Coffee, A professor at Kennesaw. |
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Book Signing at the Smithsonian's National Museum of
American History
December 5, 2009 I was invited by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American
History in Washington, DC, to sign Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved
Books and Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak as part of their
Holiday Festival. Although it was a snowy, blustery day, the Museum
was crowded. The families who came were very enthusiastic and
obviously loved history and books. What a pleasure to be there! The
museum staff was very welcoming and helpful. Afterward, we went to Ford's Theater,
where I signed their stock of Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books. |
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It was a wonderful day and I felt honored to be
invited. The Museum's Lincoln exhibit was currently running
in celebration of his 200th birthday. And Abe Lincoln: The Boy
Who Loved Books has a universal message. |
| Although the weather was a nasty mix of snow and
rain, the Museum was thronged with visitors. |
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At the Smithsonian, history is a family affair. |
| What would it be like to wear whisper
sticks for misbehaving? You will find these in Larry
Day's illustration of the dame school in Colonial
Voices: Hear Them Speak. |
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A small scout who. like Lincoln, loves
books. |
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The Carol Otis Hurst Book Prize |
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In September of '09, I was awarded the Carol Otis Hurst
Book Prize for Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak,
illustrated by Larry Day and published by Dutton Children's
Books. In the letter announcing the award, Ralph Melnick,
Assistant Director of the Westfield (Massachusetts) Athenaeum which is
composed of the Milton Burrall Whitney Library, the Jasper
Rand Art Museum and the Edwin Smith Historical Museum,
stated, "It is with great pleasure that I wish to inform you
that your wonderful treatment of the American Revolution,
Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak has been selected as
the recipient of the Carol Otis Hurst Children's Book Prize.
There were many excellent entries, but the selection
committee felt that your work best fulfilled the mission of
the prize, to celebrate the best in children's writing about
the New England experience".
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The cash prize was given to me on September 26th at the
annual Westfield Colonial Harvest Day. The Westfield Theater
Group did a readers theater presentation of Colonial
Voices: Hear Them Speak, which I narrated in the
Performance Tent.
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After the dramatic reading I signed copies of Colonial
Voices: Hear Them Speak, in front of the library, which
was a prime spot for hearing the Town Crier Contest, seeing
the Horse Drawn Wagon,
hearing the Colchester Fife and Drum Corps and watching the
children from Abner Gibbs Elementary School do a colonial
dance.
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A Return To Westfield!
Maggie Adams, Principal of the Abner Gibbs
Elementary School, wrote and was awarded a grant to obtain the
funding for two author visits. |
| At Abner Gibbs, tall children and small children
share the limelight by saying their lines with gusto while
performing in the Poetry Troupe. |
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What a pleasure to present at the Franklin Avenue
School! The children were so well prepared that every time a
familiar book cover came on the screen, they clapped and cheered. At
at the end of the slide program, they asked insightful questions. |
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Our Family |
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Linda, Oliver(9), Nelson(7), and Jason |

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